“Verily I
say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the
uttermost farthing.” Mt 5:26
What do we
have to get out of? Prison. What prison is this? The prison we throw ourselves
into by becoming angry and insulting others. Here in Matthew, as in other
passages, is a psychological teaching equivalent to the Buddha’s admonitions
and the Bhagavad Gita’s explanations of virtue. It is not enough not to
kill. Killing comes from angry thought. We have to see the futility and harm of
an angry thought in the mind to perform this mind-cleansing work for perfection.
It is certainly not expressing anger to prevent it from creating “stress” –
that new-fangled theory that can only be considered dangerous! Neither is it
not harbouring anger and suppressing it (sublimation). Nor repressing the angry
thought without understanding it (non-expression of negative emotions). It is
analysing what is going on in the mind and seeing that anger is not a solution;
it is merely an aspect of lower human nature and a sign of an agitated and weak
mind, easily overcome by external influences. The virtue in question is No. 13,
“Absence of anger/wrath”. The way to deal with it is seeing anger come one day,
the decision is made not to give way to anger the next day, supported by all
the other necessary virtues like gentleness, charitableness, chastity in
thought, speech and deed (good only), and others. It is not a question of
belief, although believing this is probably better than believing modern-day
teachings about “anger”. Since every thought has its consequences, every angry
thought towards our “brothers” – symbolising any other human (and any other
breathing creature) – has its affect on the mind. It’s not a “sin” or something
to repent about, or say you’re sorry for. It’s simply that harm is done to
one’s own mind through ignorance. Just a little basic knowledge will do the
trick of unifying us with the universe. Your thought affects the entire
universe. A good thought strengthens goodness, a bad thought fosters badness.
It’s your choice. And if you want to get out of prison, meaning transforming
your mind and stepping beyond it to true human happiness, you have to pay back
every single angry word and thought you have ever indulged in – even a quarter
of an angry thought, i.e. the farthing*. Until that time, you’re
trapped. So let’s pay what we owe as soon as possible and leave the prison of
the ignorant mind.
*The “correct”
symbolic equivalent in the King James Bible, as the original Greek word was the
quadrans (κοδράντης, kodrantes),
one-fourth part of a Roman “as”, and the lowest-value coin cast in bronze in
Biblical days. Imagine how clean the mind has to be not even to accept
“one-fourth” of an angry thought!
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